Gomez settles for draw, shares top spot with Chinese GM

Filipino grandmaster John Paul Gomez settled for another draw, this time against fellow GM Wen Yang of China, to share the top spot with GM Yu Yangyi of China after the seventh round of the 2011HD Bank Cup Open chess championship at the five-star Rex Hotel in Vietnam Saturday. Gomez, winner of his first five matches, and Wen, one of four Chinese GMs in the field, halved the point in their keenly-watched top board encounter. The draw, however, enabled Yu to catch up with Gomez for the lead with six points apiece with still two rounds left in this prestigious, 74-player tournament which offers US$6,000 prize to the champion. Yu, who snapped Gomez’s five-game winning run by forcing a draw Friday, defeated GM candidate Tran Thanh Tu of Vietnam. IMs Richard Bitoon and Oliver Barbosa also came through with a pair of upset victories over their higher-rated opponents to forge a nine-way tie for third to 11th places with five points. Bitoon, a member of the Philippine team in the 39th World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia last year, stunned fourth seed GM Zhao Jun (ELO 2599) of China, while Barbosa, a surprise co-winner in the ASEAN Chess Championship in Singapore last month, outclassed Lu Shanglei. Tied with Bitoon and Barbosa are top seed GM Le Quang Liem and second seed GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, who split the point in an all-Vietnam showdown. Also in the hunt with five points are FIDE Master Nguyen Duc Hoa of Vietnam, who toppled GM Darwin Laylo of the Philippines; GM Zhou Weiqi of China, who beat IM Bao Khoa of Vietnam; and GM Cao Sang of Vietnam, who dumped compatriot IM Nguyen Van Huy. – JVP, KY, GMANews.TV